


Re:Loop

by Sachen



Category: Re:ゼロから始める異世界生活 | Re:Zero Starting Life in Another World (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Blood and Violence, Drama, Fantasy, Gen, Magic, Psychological Drama, Time Loop, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:55:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26643346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sachen/pseuds/Sachen
Summary: One night, after visiting a convenience store, a man named Subaru is suddenly summoned to another world. With no sign of who summoned him, he soon befriends a blonde haired girl. Together, they embark to end what's keeping him there, once and for all.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	1. Beginning?

With a clearer mind, Subaru looks upon the large room he's in, there's a bookshelf on his right that has several books on it, a lined dresser on his left with a mirror standing tall next to it. The walls are blue and fluffy with portraits of various lords and ladies on them. In the center of the room sits a huge bed, much bigger than anything he's ever slept in before. Behind the bed is a window, with blue curtains that have a crest woven into them.

It's the crest of a rampant blue dragon clenching its teeth with a sword. It's the same as the one of the dresses he's seen, this must be some kind of guest room in the mansion.

Subaru thinks, ‘still haven't seen anyone around though...Hmmm...maybe I'm really late? I wouldn't put it past those lazy guards to just leave me sleeping.'

"Ah, my head still hurts though." Aching and throbbing with pain, he touches the spot where his injury is. There's a giant hole in his memory.

"Who am I? Where am I? What's going on?" What the hell happened to him? He knows nothing but his name, where he is, or what has happened to him.

Without knowing his past, the person he is, or what's going on, all he could do now is think about what he saw, heard, or felt. He thought back to what he saw the first time he woke up. A large mansion, well-decorated, and well-furnished.

There's a sweet smell in the air, like perfume. There are paintings on the walls. They all appear to be so lifelike. Whenever he got close to one of them, he felt like it's sucking him into it. He stares out the window to see the mountains and forests.

There is no way that could be true. Nothing could be that pretty. He touched a table, and it felt real. However, he didn't think he's really there, even if it felt like it. There's no way you can feel pain in a dream, right? He pinches his arm and it hurts a lot.

"Ow! Okay, I'm awake. There's no way this can be real." He tried to scream for help, but no sound came out. He ran out of his room and around. All the doors in the hallway were shut. He tried to open them one by one. Every room is empty.

"Hello! Is anybody there?" he called out.

He opened the door to his room again and saw the same thing. Nothing but an empty room.

He went back out into the hallway and tried the next door. The door opened to a room with a staircase. He peered around, but saw nothing but darkness below. Should he go down the stairs? He could try to find people. Maybe they could help him figure out what's going on.

He is on the second floor of a mansion. A grand staircase led downward, to what he assumes is the first floor. In front of him is a doorway, which contained no door. Through it is a foyer, with a chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

With no one around, he went through the doorway. He looked around the foyer. In front of him is a grandiose staircase, which led to the upper floors. The walls were red with gold designs running throughout it. He went to the stairway and looked upward.

The stairs were made of a similar material to the walls, red and gold. He began to head up the stairs, but stopped. He heard voices coming from above.

"So, you're really leaving?" A girl's voice asked.

"Yeah. It's time for me to go. I've stayed here long enough," a young man's voice answered. The voices went silent as Subaru reached the top of the stairs. He looked around, but saw no one.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Over here," the young man said, "Who are you?"

"I'm n-." Subaru's voice caught in his throat. He couldn't speak. Why not? He didn't know. He began to hear a noise. A whisper. One that he heard before.

"Scared, Subaru? You should be." The voices began to laugh. He covered his ears, trying to drown out the noise. It didn't work. The laughter only grew louder, as the voices grew in number.

"Shut up!" he cried. It did little good. He felt like he is going insane. He fell to the floor, and that is when he saw it. The stairway is different. The once grandiose design had turned into a dark abyss, with a red spiral at the bottom.

"Subaru!" He heard, but it was too late.

He fell down the spiral and hit his head on the bottom.

"Hello?" he asked, stunned. He is back in the foyer. The chandelier hung from above, with no traces of the red staircase.

"It is just my imagination," he said, wiping the sweat from his brow. He went back to the doorway and opened it again, continuing the tour. He entered a room with blue walls and a wooden floor. A single picture with a rose in a vase sat atop a chest-like table.

The next room is the Bad Room. He saw the wall had turned a deep crimson, and the floor and ceiling were a deep purple, indented to look like a mattress. In the corner is a single wooden chair. It felt like there is someone behind him, so he turned around. No one is there.

He is alone.

"Hello?" He started to get the chills, so he backtracked out the room as fast as he could. He opened the next door in front of him. He is in a small square room, with green walls and floor.

In the middle of the room was a checkerboard, with two chairs on either side. The next door was to a room with walls the color of grass, and a floor with the same shade of green as the squares in the previous room.

He saw a single picture on the wall, depicting a tree. It is labeled as art, but to him it just looked ugly. The next room is a fully furnished kitchen. Cabinets above a counter held dishes and cups. A refrigerator and oven were on the wall to his left. A set of drawers is below the counter. Above the drawers is a picture of seven fruits: A plate, an apple, a banana, a pear, a peach, an orange, and something he couldn't recognize.

In a flash, a young girl is standing in front of him. He jumped back in surprise. The girl grabbed his tie and lifted him into the air.

"Who are you?" she asked while still holding his tie. "How did you get in here?"

"Please let me go," he pleaded.

She dropped him to the floor. "Answer my questions first."

"My name is Subaru, I just got here not a minute ago. I got lost."

"Hmmmm... maybe you should come with me."

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"To the head butler. He needs to ask you some questions." It's not that she is mean or cruel, but her attitude seemed very professional and brisk.

He stood up, brushed himself off, and followed her out the door.

The girl had long blonde hair that reached down to her waist. A cute face with fair skin and a slim figure made her look like a Western princess. She wore a one piece dress with a skirt that started silver and changed to blue at the bottom. It draped over her body, accentuating all her right curves.

"So, this is the boy?" A deep voice said from behind him. He turned around to see a tall man wearing a black suit with a white dress shirt and a skinny black tie. "What's your name, boy? How did you get here? Are you lost?"

The boy swallowed hard. "I'm Subaru. I came through that door over there." He pointed to a plain door on the other side of the room. The door behind him had disappeared, "I got lost."

The tall man turned to the girl and said, "You were supposed to be watching the experiments. Again you daydream and nearly let things get out of hand."

"But I didn't this time," she whined. "I stopped him as soon as I saw him. And we had an audition, didn't we? You said anyone who came through the door could be taken as a disciple."

"That is only if he made it all the way here. He's not a good candidate anyway. I'm sending him back where he came from."

The girl pouted and crossed her arms. "He looks like a good candidate to me! Besides, I put all that effort into my acting, and you said anyone who came through the door could be taken as a disciple. That means he's mine!"

The man rolled his eyes, "Fine, you can have him then. But I doubt if you'll be able to make anything out of him."

"Woot! I got a disciple! Now I don't have to worry about losing my title. Ka-ching!"

The man was clearly irritated by the girl, and his face soon turned to one of anger. "We're not in it for the money, Cecilia."

The girl pouted again. She looked over at the boy and stuck out her hand, "The name's Catalina. Pleased to meet ya, I'm your master. If you follow me, we can both achieve great things." Less than a second passed before the girl started yanking on his arm and saying, "Well? Aren't ya coming? The Great Mage Master of the West tower can't wait all day. I've got lotsa stuff planned for us!"

She is quite forceful, and the boy felt like he would be dragged through the streets if he didn't start walking. "Ah...O...okay then...I'm O...oh wait..." With all the tugging, he had forgotten his own name.

"It's okay, you'll get it back soon! C'mon, let's go! I'll explain everything on the way! And remember, you have to do what I say. You're my servant now! And... You're also my friend!"

The girl let go of his arm. He bent down to pick up what he had arrived here with. A teddy bear. Did he bring this with him? He didn't even remember...

The girl started skipping ahead, "Let's goooo! You can come inside with me!" The boy is unsure of what to do next. But it seemed like the girl already knew what he would say.

"You'll need to follow me, or else you might get lost again! Wouldn't want that to happen again now, would we? You might disappear again. That would ruin my plans! And I worked so hard to get the Great Mage Master of the West tower to me!"

"What does the tower have to do with all of this?"

She let out a cute "Hmm" as she thought about it. Then, after a few seconds, she turned to him with a big smile on her face, "Remember the rules... You're not allowed to ask questions."

He let out a loud sigh as his head slumped forward. Of course she wouldn't make things easy. She never did. It is going to be like this the whole time he is here. Well, he'd better get used to it. If she really meant what she said, then he'd be here for a very long time. He didn't even want to think about how long.

She grabbed his hand and started running again, leaving the teddy bear behind this time. The two of them ran across the courtyard towards the tower. It is nearly sunset, and the sun's last light is shining upon it, making the stained glass shine in a million hues of color. It is like a beacon guiding them to it.

They entered through large wooden doors into a foyer. Catalina started climbing the spiral staircase. He looked around as he climbed. Tapestries hung from the walls, each with a different symbol than the last. A few were of symbols he didn't recognize, but some were of objects or creatures he had seen before in his dreams.

When he reached the top he noticed it is just a big empty space. No furniture or anything. But in the middle, stood another one of those strange symbols from the tapestries. It is about 4 or 5 feet tall and looked like an irregular shape, with lines coming out of it in all directions.

He looked at it and frowned. It is one of those symbols he had seen in his dreams. He didn't like it one bit. It gave him an ominous feeling each and every time he saw it.

He heard Catalina snap her fingers, "Hey, space cadet! Pay attention!"

He looked over at her, "Huh? Wha- What did you say?"

"I said, what do you think of my temple?" She looked a little annoyed.

"It's uh...big."

She sighed with exasperation.

"No, I'm being literal here. This entire floor is the temple. The tower itself is actually hollow. It's actually more like a well than a tower. So, what do you think of the temple?"

"It's uh...cool. It's really cool."

Catalina smiled, "Great! Glad you like it. Now, come on, I'll give you the grand tour. After all, you're going to be living here from now on. This is your room," she said as she opened the door to one of the many tapestry-covered doors in the hallway, "Make yourself at home."

He isn't sure what this temple is really for. After all, it looked more like a home than a place of worship. And what did she mean by living here? Was she planning on keeping him here against his will? As soon as the thought entered his mind, he dismissed it.

Subaru didn't like being left in the dark about these things, "Yeah, that's a good idea. I don't really know anything about this place and you're the one who brought me here. So, you better start explaining."

Catalina frowned a bit but then went over to sit on her bed. She patted the spot next to her in an inviting manner. "Now, you sure that's what you want to do?" she asked.

"Yes," he responded defiantly as he sat beside her.

Catalina just laughed and shook her head. "Fine by me."

"I have to ask, what exactly is this ritual all about?"

Catalina looked at him as if he was an idiot. Which perhaps he was and she is just too polite to say so.

"It's a ritual," she said slowly, "A magical ritual."

"That doesn't tell me anything." She sighed and turned from him, looking into the fire. "It's a spell," she explained, "A ritual magic spell."

"Oh, like in a magic book?"

She pinched the bridge of her nose. "No, not like in a magic book. I'm talking about real magic. Bending the fabric of reality itself."

"Can you do that?" He is skeptical.

"You're sitting next to me, aren't you?" She laughed at her own joke.

"That's not an answer."

She turned to look at him and gave him a smoldering look. Then, she put her head on his shoulder. She then looked into his eyes and whispered, "I have my ways of making you agree to anything."

He gulped, a bit nervously. She had a point; she could easily have him agree to anything just by using her body in the way a woman should.

He coughed. "So, why did you pick me, a random guy snooping around in a mansion, as your disciple?"

She laughed again. "You saw yourself as a random guy snooping around in a mansion. You're obviously out of touch with your true potential."

"And what's that?"

She stood up and looked down at him from her full height, which is quite a bit taller than he is. She gave him a smile and said, "You are a potential seed of a Great Wizard."

"A Great Wizard?"

"That's right. You have the ability to be a Great Wizard."

He snorted in disbelief. She sat back down next to him, her eyes begging him to listen. "I'm serious. I can see it. You have the potential, I just need to release it."

He laughed. "I'll believe it when I see it."

"You will," she assured him. "If you just let me help you, that is. Will you let me help you?"

He looked at her with suspicion. "How do I know you're telling the truth? I mean, you could just be lying to get in my head."

"I could be, but I am not. It's your choice whether or not you wish to pursue your true potential, but I can assure you that your path will be a lot more fun if I'm at your side. Your future is in your hands. And don't worry, you can always change your mind if you decide you don't like my help. Now, do you wish to continue?"

Again, he hesitated. Again, she waited patiently for him to give his answer. As before, he decided to trust her. "Alright... I'll let you help me."

She smiled and patted his head in a condescending manner. "Good boy! I knew you'd see it my way."

"Hey!" he complained.

She ignored him and stood up again. "Now, we begin. Close your eyes and focus on your breathing."

He agreed to let her help him and so he did what she told him to do. He closed his eyes and focused on his breathing, or at least he thought he was. A minute later, Catalina interrupted. "No, you're not doing it right. You're supposed to focus on your breathing, not just have your eyes closed! How am I supposed to teach you if you're not even trying?"

He snapped. "How the hell am I supposed to focus on my breathing when all I can think about is how I'm hungry, or how I have to piss? Do you know how much I really need to piss right now? A lot. There's no way I can focus with how my body is screaming at me right now."

She frowned. "No, you need to focus. If you can't do this then there's no hope for you. You'll die and we'll both be dead. You need to try harder."

He grit his teeth and felt his entire body begin to itch all over. The heat is unbearable and he couldn't focus on a single thing. His stomach lurched and he knew he was about to snap. "I'M GOING TO RIP OUT YOUR THROAT AND SHIT DOWN YOUR NECK!" He screamed as he charged forward.

He felt her hands on his chest and went to push her away only for his hand to go straight through her. "Subaru... you're dreaming."

"Like hell I am! Let go of me!" He struggled to get her off of him but only went through her again.

"You're dreaming. You're not really here, Subaru."

"LIAR! JUST LET GO!" She grabbed his arm and spun him around. He stopped struggling and is about to say something but nothing came out.

"Just let it happen. You'll wake up soon." She said in a more sympathetic tone.

He felt his body go numb and... "Subaru! Wake up! Don't die already!" The girl yelled, shaking Subaru violently. He could feel himself die, only to return to life.

"It's been happening a lot recently Subaru, you need to wake up!" She said, fear evident in her voice.

All he knew is that the girl, Catalina, had saved him from death once again. It didn't surprise him anymore. In fact, it had become somewhat of a daily routine. "Wake up, you're dead. Oh, you're alive again. Wake up, you're dead, oh wait you're alive again. Wake up you're-"

"Alright, I get it. I've been going through this loop for however long and you keep on saving me. Why?"

The girl sighed, "You're slow on the uptake but I'll give you credit, you get it eventually. Though I still don't see why this is surprising to you. You've met me before and you knew I would save you."

"Wait...this has happened before?"

Catalina gave a dry laugh, "You're really going loopy if you forgot meeting me before. Anyway, I'm here to train you."

"For what?"

"Magic duh!" She rolled her eyes, "You're a wizard Subaru, and a fairly powerful one at that. That idiot Satella over enchanted your body so you'd live. That's why you're looping."

"Satella?"

She sighed and looked up to the sky, "Just my luck. I get the one guy in a million who doesn't know anything."

"Then why'd you save me?"

"I already told you, you have potential. I'm here to train you so you can survive the loops, and when you're powerful enough, we can split off from the stream of threads and prevent it entirely."

"So that's why the sky looks different and I keep on waking up in a different place."

She nodded, "Those are just minor differences, the real changes will start happening soon. We'll be able to change the world entirely, my world for instance is filled with grassy fields and flowers. It's quite nice."

"My world is filled with...well, cities. Nothing but concrete and buildings."

"Well, if we're lucky we'll be able to create a world similar to mine, but with more technology. I heard the world you came from is quite fascinating."

"It is...I had a lot of fun in the years I was there."

"Well, maybe we'll create one similar to it," she said, a hopeful gleam came into her eyes.

"I'm willing to try if you are," he said, extending his hand. She grabbed it and shook, the deal was sealed.

So begins the story of Subaru, and Catalina, and the beginning of a whole new journey...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 10/3/2020 Edit: Fixed the tenses


	2. 1st Trial

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Subaru enters a strange gateway, but sometimes strange occurs.

Subaru grabbed Catalina's hand and she led him into the forest. He looked back one last time at the village he once protected, and then entered a clearing where Catalina stopped. In front of them was a crystal object that seemed to be half solid, half invisible.

"What's this?"

"This," she said as she touched the object. "Is my gateway to a place with the power to turn you into a great wizard, or whatever you wish to be. However, we must both enter for it to work."

"You mean we both have to get inside that...thing? How do we even fit?"

She laughed, "It's very big inside, but we won't be able to sustain the energy needed to make it work for long. We need to enter before the time is up or we'll die."

"Wait a minute! We don't know what's inside and you're just gonna dive in? What if we can't come out, or it doesn't even work!?"

"I've used it several times. It'll be fine as long as we get in!"

"What if something goes wrong and it kills us?"

Catalina looked at him with a shocked expression. She opened her mouth to say something but then closed it. "Listen, I don't know why you're acting like this. This is the only way for you stay here. We need to get in."

He looked up at the sky and took a deep breath. He steadied himself, though he didn't know why. It's not like it would help. He decided to trust Catalina, for now. However, if he started feeling like something was going wrong he'd bail. He knew she would too.

The two of them entered the gateway together, and it started to close. He wondered if this was a bad idea, but really, was there a choice? The gateway closed and they were enveloped by dark purple light. It became so bright that he had to close his eyes or else he'd go blind.

Seconds later and the light died down. He opened his eyes to find that nothing had changed.

"Catalina! Are you alright?!" he said, turning around but getting no answer. "Hello? Catalina?!"

He was in a forest, with trees surrounding him on all sides. The sun was shining through the leaves, making patches of light on the ground. It...was a nice scene, were he not alone. 

"Catalina?" he called out.

No reply. He worried that she had died, but why was he brought to this world? What had he done to make her want to bring him here? He didn't know. Her reasons would be on her person, most likely. And her person would be where she had entered the gateway. He ran in the direction that they had come from.

The patch of grass where the gateway was, was now a circle of black, burnt grass. He searched around for her belongings and found her backpack a little further away. He opened it up to find some items he expected, and other he didn't.

He found some food, it looked like it was mostly meat and fruit, though there was no way to be sure without using magic to identify the different pieces. Then he found a few books in the bag. From what he could tell, Catalina was a pretty fast reader. There was not an inch of the books that wasn't filled with her handwriting. At the bottom of the bag was a folded piece of clothing. He unfolded it to reveal a purple cloak with a hood.

He took off his own brown cloak and replaced it with the new one. Then, he took out all of the books and set them on the ground beside him. He frowned at all of their thicknesses. Was any of that actually useful? One in particular caught his eyes, "A Guide to Mutantry," the cover read. Mutantry was the opposite of sorcery, using your mind to influence others instead of go wild with powers. He opened it and looked inside.

He didn't find anything useful, so he placed the book back into the bag and continued searching through it. He found a book of matches from a place called "Club Alpha." Then, at the very bottom, was a folded up letter. He opened it and started reading.

Dear Sir or Madam,  
I am writing to you in the hopes that you can assist me in my plight. I have been taken from my world by an evil wizard and need to get back home.

He stopped reading for a moment. Recalling earlier when they were discussing they were from different worlds, it seemed as if Catalina had been taken from her world as well. He wondered if he was going to be able to return home now that he had her book. He kept on reading.

I am a sorceress and along with powerful magic abilities I also posess the ability to travel between worlds. By chance, I also posess the knowledge of a powerful ritual that will allow me to return home. However, I must have something that is of great importance in this world for it to work. I must have a powerful being's allegiance. I need you to help me capture the heart of a dragon and then I will use that heart in the ritual to take me home.  
Awaiting your response,  
Catalina Adams

He put the letter back in the bag and looked at everything once more. She wanted his help in capturing a dragon. He couldn't imagine such a thing would be easy. It seemed crazy, but this entire world seemed unreal. But he didn't have any sort of magical abilities that would help him achieve that, at least not yet. Would escaping from back to his home world really put an end to the loops? Catalina had promised to help make him strong enough to break the loops, but was that the truth, or just something she said to get him on her side? She did seem sincere about it, but then again with her being a sorceress she could've easily forced him to feel that way without him knowing.

He was in an unfamiliar world, surrounded by unfamiliar people. The only person he knew was the same one asking him to capture a dragon and hand it over to her. He didn't know who to trust, Catalina? Or himself?

Then, he remembered that he had a way of figuring out if someone was trustworthy or not. He reached into his pocket and grabbed the coin. This coin was given to him he first entered this world, it was given to him by a hunchbacked merchant in some town. He couldn't remember the name of it, nor where it was, but it was somewhere in this world. The coin was supposed to be magical and would glow if you spoke the truth or lied.

He tried it out in the past and it did indeed work, but he wasn't sure if it worked on everyone or just people with a certain level of [Honesty]. He was wary about using it though, last time he did it caused a lot of trouble for him. 

In any case, he decided not to use it. He would have to trust his own judgment in the matter. He thought about it long and hard. Who should he side with?

He thought about the future, what would happen if he picked sides. What would he gain and what would he lose?  
That was a silly question though, because no matter what he chose he would still lose something. He would only gain something, and that was it. 

He would still have something to lose. He could find something else should he lose this, but he would still lose something important. He would lose a friend, or he would lose a world. He would lose everything or he would lose nothing. Who should he side with?

His ability to return by death wasn't the answer, it brought on too many issues with it. The main one being he would have to keep on killing people to stay alive, it was a vicious cycle that he wouldn't fall into again. The world was full of liars and those that can't handle truths, so trusting the coin might not be the best of ideas either. 

If he was honest, he felt the people he'd need to defend were liars. He had doubts about their intentions, more specifically if they could back up their words with actions. If they couldn't then that would be worse than if they were lying.

In any case, he will need to ask Catalina about this dragon issue, but first must find her after she had suddenly disappeared after they entered the portal. He looked for Catalina, but instead he found a girl in a hooded black and purple robe.

"Hello Loop-de-loop, have you come to see Catalina?" She asks with an eerie voice.

"Who are you?" He demands.

"An acquaintance of Catalina's, you can refer to me as Dusk." She states.

"Where is she?" He asks, not dropping his guard.

"She'll arrive in due time, but you're asking the wrong questions." She remarks with a hint of annoyance in her voice. Dusk is about 5 feet and 2 inches, and cloaked in a black robe with purple lining. She wears a hood over her head that covers most of her face, the rest is unseen.

"Before you ask any of those questions bouncing around in that silly brain of yours, let me preface this by saying, I am not your enemy." She says.

"Then what are you?" Subaru demands.

"I am an acquaintance of Catalina's, and right now the only person who holds the answers to your questions." She says in a rather annoyed tone. "So I advise you to rein in your distrustful nature and listen, or you can be on your way. "

"Fine then, why can't Catalina come out and tell me about herself?" He demands. 

"She's busy at the moment, so she sent me to speak on her behalf."

"How do I know you're telling the truth? You could be lying, you could be planning to kill me when I drop my guard. There's so many things that could go wrong." 

"You'll just have to trust me, or not as the case may be. I can't say I'm thrilled with these circumstances myself. Catalina and I have been looking forward to this for quite sometime, so the same applies to her. "

"So...What now?"

"We are to enter this portal. After that, you'll be in a different realm where you can learn magic."

"Why not now? Why not here?"

"This realm is for those with power, and a connection to magic, you have both. The portal is just a gateway to the true location. If we were stay in this realm for too long, we'd be trapped, so we must enter the portal."

"Trapped?"

"... I can tell you no more, we must go. I suggest you prepare yourself for what is to come, and quickly."

"How do I know this isn't a trick?"

"You don't. But I assure you that this is the best way to gain your freedom."

"...Fine. Let's get this over with." Dusk nods, and steps into a dark portal. He follows behind her, immediately being hit with a wave of nausea. The darkness clears as he finds himself in another place entirely.

"We're here. Are you sure you're alright? You look a little pale." Dusk says, with a hint of genuine concern in her voice. Subaru hasn't been this close to her before, so now he notices that she has very sharp looking teeth.

"I'll be fine. Just wasn't expecting to suddenly pass out." He reassures her, taking a deep breath and steadying himself.

"Alright then, let's get onto what you'll need to do to pass the trials. A lot of it is just resting and recovering your strength, this may take a few days."

"Wait trials? I thought you were taking me to meet with Catalina?" Subaru says.

"Her? No way. She's got her own stuff to do, and won't have time for you." Dusk says with an obvious tone of annoyance in her voice. Subaru is confused by what she means, but he decide not to press the subject and move on to another question.

"If she's got her own stuff to do, then why is she sending you to help me?"

"Because she's Catalina, why else?" Dusk says with an annoyed grunt. She seems less than thrilled that Subaru has taken an interest in her conversation.

Catalina's personality may be a little unfriendly at times, but this girl is downright hostile. Maybe it has to do with her being forced to help him. He doesn't want to make her any madder than she already is, so he decides to drop the subject.

"Alright then, so what are these trials? How will they help me get strong enough to see Catalina?" Dusk seems a little surprised that he's dropping the subject, but begins to explain regardless.

"The trials are exactly what they sound like. They are a series of tests that you must pass in order to move on. These tests will range from combat, to something similar to an obstacle course. If you can prove that you are worthy of Catalina's time and teaching, she will lead you to her home. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, I think so, but I thought she was already willing to help me so we could break the cycles?"

"Even though it pains me, I must agree with you. Catalina's spell is much more complicated than we thought. She can't just bring in someone without testing them first to see if they are viable. She has to devote a lot of time just to make the strongest barrier possible for this loop. There are so many factors that could go wrong with this, and she can't just half-heartedly do this. She needs to be prepared."

"I see...that makes sense. I don't think Catalina knows just how much this all means to me. I'll do everything I can to pass the trials." Dusk nods her head at his answer, and with a snap of her fingers, a blue portal opens up. Unsure of what to expect, but confident in his abilities, he jumps into the portal and enters a large coliseum like area. He's soon joined by Dusk, who appears out of thin air next to him.

He wondered about what she looked like under the hoodie aside from the glance he got of her sharp teeth, so he attempted to get a closer look at face to she what looked like, but he can't. He tries to move his head closer, but he finds that he physically can't move his head any closer to Dusk's face. It's like there's some sort of force field preventing him from looking at her. She looks down at him with a frown.

"This is your first trial. You can't see my face, and you're not meant to. For now, know that I'm displeased with you. This isn't good."

"What's going on? What's this trial? How come I can't look at your face?" Dusk sniffs the air in front of her, before moving her arm to block his view of her entirely. Now that her face was hidden from him, she could talk more freely.

"The trial starts soon. You need to kill all of the other candidates within this barrier. There is a chain that can be used to exit the arena, but you cannot leave until all others are dead. You're going to have to guess what my face looks like. This is your trial."

"Wait hold, how many of these trials do I have to complete?" 

Dusk smirks a bit, nodding her head as she throws up another finger. "Ah, excellent question! You see, the more trials you complete, the stronger you become. These candidates are being given to you in order to gain more power. So in order to reach your potential quickly... Just kill them." 

"What? No, I can't just kill them!"

"Sure you can. They're just kids. They're no match for you at all."

"I... I..."

Dusk shrugs as she puts a hand to her mouth, smiling a bit as she taps her foot on the ground. She suddenly throws her head back laughing. She puts a hand on her stomach as she tries to compose herself.

"W... Why are you laughing?"

"Hmmm... I just thought of something funny. See, the entire reason why this is funny, is because you actually think you have a choice here." 

"What, so you're threatening me?" 

Dusk throws her hands up into the air, clearly showing she's annoyed. She crosses her arms and sighs a bit before laughing again. "Threatening you? Oh no... I'm not threatening you. I'm just laughing at how stupid you are. But then again, you're a human, so that explains a lot."

"What's that supposed to mean? Wait, are you saying you're not human?"

"Hahaaa, that's a good one. You're really funny. Humans, such a pathetic and weak race. They're vile creatures... But, they can also be so funny at times."

"Can we get back on topic now?"

"Yes, of course. The topic is you, and your potential."

"You keep saying that, but I haven't seen anything to prove that. So far I haven't seen anything impressive at all."

"Well... The trials aren't over yet, and how do you know that your magic won't develop later on? Maybe you just haven't had any real danger in your life, or experienced much hardship. Once you do, your powers will become greater. That's just how it works with every wizard, it's all about trial and error, like anything else."

"I suppose that makes sense. It's just.... Taking another life for my own gain? And for some stupid trial to top it all off? I dunno... That seems pretty grim to me."

"Yes... It is a bit twisted isn't it? Magic in it's entirety is a twisted thing. You'll get over it soon enough. But for now, let's focus on your trial, shall we?"

"Alright..." Subaru looks around, the colosseum walls are tall stone pillars that hold up a glass roof, which let in the sun and moonlight. Along each pillar is a row of seats, for the various mages to watch the trials. The pillars are also luminated by a faint blue light, so that the fight can be seen even in the darkest of nights. Towards the centre of the colosseum is a large pit, with sharp metal spikes facing up, to prevent anyone from falling in and surviving.

The pit was used for the gladiators and their battles, but now it serves a new purpose. One that will hopefully help Subaru's situation. He had to take life in the arena to move forward, to progress through the trial and onto the next section. He had a feeling that he would have to do something like that, but even so it was an object lesson in why one should be careful for what they wish. Now he prepares to take the next step in his trial.

He takes a moment to look at the people he is up against. There are forty-two other kids, but they are all unsorted mages, unclassed and nameless. They are the dregs of society, people who for some reason or another could not fulfill their place in regular society. These are the people that do not have a purpose. These are the people that have nothing else to offer to this world, and Subaru is among them. But there is one other person, a single girl among the candidates. She stands out from the rest, with a brilliant pink uniform and white fur trim.

Subaru looks back at Dusk, "When is the trial starting?"

"Once all the candidates have arrived. This is more of an observation period, just to see how you lot act around each other." 

The pinkette girl looks up at him and smiles, she slowly walks up to him and stretches out her hand, "Hi there, I'm Felt."

She has smooth, flawless porcelain skin with a few small freckles near the tip of her nose. Her dull blue eyes seem to show no emotion at all. She wears a pink dress with a long skirt that reaches the floor, despite this, it is very form-fitting and accentuates all her curves. The top part of her dress is low-cut and reveals most of her abundance of cleavage. On her right shoulder she has a patch that consists of a four-pointed star, with each point being a different color. Her long blond hair is tied into a ponytail that reaches all the way to her lower back. On her feet, she wears what looks to be leather boots with a heel and toe.

She looks around 19 years old. Ruffian is the last thing anyone would ever call her, as she is dressed far more elegantly than anyone else in this room.  
She's different from the other candidates... She must be here for something else, maybe another trial?

He extends his arm and shakes her hand, she winks as she says, "Call me Felt." She does not let go of his hand, instead, she pulls him closer to her. She leans in and whispers into his ear, "And don't worry, I won't bite you... Yet."

... Hey wait a minute! He has to kill them all? There's no way he can do that, if anything he should be trying to make friends.... No! He needs to pass this trial. 

"I won't die so easily," he proclaims, "my goal is to make it out of this place alive." He extends his thumb upwards. "I'll even give a thumbs-up if I make it out," he says. He makes a peace sign with his other fingers, "Peace out."

She stares angrily at him, she doesn't like what he's saying at all, she looks more determined than ever now. "You won't make it out alive," she says.

"Then try your best to help me," he says with a wink, "besides, if I'm gonna die, I'd rather die... Doing this!" He makes another peace sign with his fingers and closes his eyes. He's ready for the fight of his life.

He waits for the trial to start, ready to bring it on. The girl will probably try to kill him when it does, if only he could get her into his grasp. The rest of the candidates arrive. He stands in the center of the arena, right in the middle of all the other candidates.

"In this first part of the trial, you must fight! Only the strongest will may pass to the next level of the trial!" An unknown voice shouts from above. 

He assesses the situation, there are many dangerous looking people here, but few he would think to be able to take on. Even though Subaru was a Shut-in NEET back in his previous, that didn't mean he was weak by any means. He had been working out, and doing Karate for 6 years. He could hold his own against any other opponent in this room and more than likely come out on top, even with the disadvantage of not being a mage.

Still, even then it wouldn't do to be over-confident, especially against these enemies. They each had the potential to be very skilled and powerful foes if magic came into play, something Subaru lacked. So he needed to take them out quickly and efficiently

He gets into a battle position, ready to take on any of them that come after him. Three of them dash forward with spears ready, he moves his body to the right, dodging one of them and moving his arm in a circle around the one, catching him in a hold and tossing him over his shoulder onto the sand. Several more come running up to him with spears but he dodges or blocks all of their attacks. 

He gets one into a hold, tosses him over his shoulder and throws him into the pit with the spikes. The boy screams as he falls and lands on the spikes, blood coming out in chunks.

"Agh! I'm sorry! Please! I don't want to die!" Another one begs as he tries to crawl away, but Subaru takes his spear and stabs him with it. He grunts as the spear goes through his back and out his chest.

"You should've thought of that before coming here," Subaru says and snaps the spear in two, killing him. 

Two girls fight each other with swords made of spirit energy, another girl is being chased by three others and is trying to get up the courage to cast a spell. Two boys are fighting each other with wooden swords. Several of the other candidates are just watching at the action, some are even talking amongst themselves.

He tries to ignore the other candidates, but that becomes increasingly difficult as they begin to attack him. One of the girls fighting with a sword begins to laugh menacingly, the other girl seems scared as hell. 

"Don't worry, I'll make this quick." She says and lunges at the other girl. Without hesitation, he charges forward and trips the attacker with his foot. She falls face first into the ground.

"You were saying?" He says while grabbing her sword by the handle, breaks it into two and stabs her through the throat with it. The girl gurgles and coughs blood onto the grass, then laying still. Meanwhile the other girl is engaged in combat with another one of the girls, it seems she has the advantage as she stabs her opponent through the stomach.

"Ah ahh! You're not getting away with that!" says a boy who charges at the girl, she puts up her sword to block but he kicks her down to the ground with great agility. Soon he begins to stomp on her over and over, laughing sadistically.

"Stop it! Stop it!" the girl attempts to crawl away but he continues his assault, she's covered in blood now. Subaru quietly sneaks up to the sadistic boy, then quickly grabs him from behind and smothers his mouth and nose with his hands, the boy tries to scream but he can't breathe. The boy begins to flail his arms and legs, but Subaru holds on strong. Finally, the boy's body goes limp and he falls to the ground. 

The girl sits up with a look of terror on her face, she then begins to sob heavily. "Y-you saved...saved m-m-me..." she mutters with no volume behind it, still clearly terrified. 

"We're in a free for all, you could still kill me."

The girl wipes her eyes and stands up, then begins to look around. "I just...I can't do this anymore." She says sorrowfully. "I don't care about winning anymore."

"I don't recall hearing anything about leaving, unless you're the last one alive."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." She looks around, then sits down again. "I just need a break, this has all been so stressful and my head hurts so much."

He thinks about the nature of this trial, and how the other candidates had entered of their own volition. They all came here of their own free will, but now... Now they're going to have to fight to the death, or they'll be killed anyway. "Do you intend to stay here until the end?"

"Yes. I don't want to die... But I don't want to kill anyone, either. If I stay here, they'll kill everyone else and I'll survive, right?" The girl asks.

"I'm not sure."

"Well, I'm staying, then."

The stench of death and blood fills the air. The corpses of fallen children surround Subaru. Some are missing limbs, others are missing their head, and the ground is littered with stains of red and silver. The shining armor that once protected them now serves as a mocking reminder of their brutal murders. In between the thirty or so corpses scattered around the battlefield, only around 10 of the original 42 remain there, still in small groups of two fighting each other.

The two groups of three to the far left seem to be made up of some of the strongest fighters, led by a large boy with an axe. The group of four in the center is more well-rounded and unpredictable, with one seemingly a sorcerer of sorts due to the staff he's holding.

Subaru thinks about why they would team up when they would have to kill each other in the end due to the only one being able to pass onto the next trial. Maybe they're just so desperate to leave this place that they don't care if they have to kill each other later. Or maybe they're working together to gain more power by using each other's strengths and weaknesses.

The final group of two is more isolated from the rest, which might make them less of a threat but they seem to be holding their own and have the advantage with two being able to attack from range while only being attacked from one direction.

He looks around for the girl with the hood, and sees her standing back to back with the boy with the staff, both in defensive stances. The two groups of three have closed in on them, but are wary of getting too close. The last group of two is closing in fast from the side, one with a large axe and the other with a sword. The two groups begin their attack at the same time, the one with the axe swings at Felt's head while the other attacks low, clearly hoping to cut her legs off. 

Subaru at this point is simply watching the three groups clash. He's about to act when Felt spins around on the ball of her foot, her heel flying into the nose of the axe-wielder, sending him crumpling to the ground where she finishes off his allies. She then back-flips away from the sword-wielder, who nearly manages to hit her, but instead gets his blade caught in the ground. He struggles to pull it free as she kicks him in the face, leaving him crumpling as well.

The two of them turn to the groups of three. The axe-wielder appears to be bleeding from the nose, and has a bruise already forming where his nose was hit. He's slowly standing up, gripping his axe. The other just looks furious as he pulls his sword out of the ground. 

Subaru looks around, and doesn't see the girl he saved from the earlier. He does see a faint trail of blood leading towards the two boys fighting. Following it, he sees that it leads up to where she laid in a pool of her own blood, dead. The boy with the sword looks up at him, breathing heavily, and is about to say something when Felt charges into him and cuts his throat. 

Subaru waits for the fight to finish. Felt watches the two groups, slowly moving around them as the boy with the axe misses his remaining ally, and the other dodges the axe-wielder's wild swings. The boy with the sword, after taking a gash to his side, finally manages to stab the axe wielder in the side, and as he winces in pain from the wound, takes his sword and smashes it into his head. The sword wielder turns to Felt.

"Don't look at me like that. You fought well, but it's time to die." He says, spitting out a bit of blood from where the axe wielder had kicked him. He slowly walks towards Felt, his sword raised. With a quick step, he swings his sword and cuts at Felt's head. Felt leaps backwards, but slips on a corpse, just barely dodging the sword.

Felt once again charges at the boy, hitting him in the face with her fists. The boy stumbles backwards, blood leaking from his nose. He loses his footing on a rock and ends up on his back, Felt storming on top of him and repeatedly hitting him in the face.

A sudden memory hits Subaru, he grits his teeth.

He sees a silver haired elf in the vision, still in her crystalized state, begun to levitate, as a red-eyed girl and a green skinned fellow walk to her. The green person looks around panicked, only to have his head explode, showering blood and brains all over the silver haired one. The red-eyed girl levitates a scalpel into her hand, ready to kill the silver haired girl. "What... What do you want with me...?"

He shakes his head, clearing away the memories. He turns to Felt and the three other remaining people left in this first trial. He sees Felt standing over the bodies of the two boys, looking around. She spots him and waves.

"Hey, you're still alive!"

"Yeah, you?"

"I would be stupid not to survive. That was a really great brawl. Some people died, though..." Felt states fact, not a single hint of sadness in her voice. 

"Is this so? I wouldn't have expected less from you. Finish off the others, and maybe I'll consider fighting you." He says this in a confident way, as someone once said he should act in his fights. Felt frowns a bit at him, but happily accepts the offer. She begins to walk over to the boy passed out after falling out of a column he was climbing to get away from the fight.

She pulls out her dagger and stabs him in the throat, twisting the knife for good measure. Blood pours out of his neck and he begins to drown on it. The girl raises her hands, ready to fight for her life. She begins to back away, but Felt runs over and punches her in the face with all her might, knocking her out. She runs over and pulls out her knife, stabbing the girl multiple times in the stomach as blood begins to pore out of her mouth.

Felt happily walks over to him, and Subaru can see the pride in her eyes. Clearly she wants to win, but she also seems to be enjoying the bloodshed. "Well? We're the last two left. You gonna fight me, Natsuki Subaru?"

He looks at her, the proud warrior, the girl that may have one day become the most the most feared thing in the entire world, being the one with the most potential, but Subaru wouldn't just end it like that, he must win, for his own sake. He must become more powerful, to break out of this endless cycle.

"I want to win!" He runs at her and does a flying kick, but she manages to catch his foot. She holds out her other hand as he spins in the air and she grabs his throat, she squeezes as his face begins to turn red. She then throws him into a column, he falls to the ground and she jumps on him with her knife in hand. She stabs it into his side as he cries out in pain. He then grabs her wrist and twists it, causing her to drop the knife.

He then headbutts her, breaking through her defenses. They both stand up and begin to exchange punches and kicks. She knees him in the stomach and elbows him in the face. He grabs her arm and throws her to the ground, she rolls to prevent a fall and quickly gets up. He runs and does a flying kick, she rolls out of the way and he hits the ground. She grabs his foot and flips him over, but he quickly grabs her by the waist and slams her onto the ground. He tries to punch her, but she wraps her legs around his arm and flips him over.

He grabs her by the neck and begins to strangle her, she knees him in the stomach and tries to get out of his grip, but he flips her over. He begins to yell at her as they scuffle on the ground. 

"Stop looking at me like a little girl!"

"Then stop acting like one!" Felt yells back. They both get up and glare at each other, Felt rubs her neck as Subaru's eye begins to twitch.

Subaru looks at Felt and grits his teeth again, as he thinks of a way to win, he can't beat her in strength or speed. That leaves her eyes, he'll have to use some sort of magic to win. He takes a deep breath and exhales slowly, Felt begins laughing at him. He ignores her and closes his eyes.

"Is that your strategy? Slow breathing?" Felt readies her bow and points it at him, he doesn't move a muscle, he doesn't even open his eyes, "I'm going to count to three."

He clenches his fists.

"One."

She pulls back the string on her bow.

"Two."

He begins to sweat.

"Thr..."

"Shamak!" 

The whole area became engulfed by a dark cloud of smog. Felt had trouble seeing through it, but she could hear the sounds of his heavy footsteps. She aimed her bow around in a circle, not knowing where he was, but she knew he was there.

"I can hear you!"

He can be heard jumping.

"Where are you?" He paid her no mind and continued walking towards her voice, she began to panic as she realized she couldn't see him through the darkness.

"I can't see you! Stop playing around!" She began to feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, and then she felt a blow to the side of her head. She instinctively grabbed at the side of her head and fell to the floor. She could hear him running away, but she couldn't see anything through the darkness.

"You little!" 

She aimed her bow in the direction of his running and released. The arrow sailed through the air, and she could hear it cutting through the darkness. She smiled as she heard him scream, followed by a loud splash. She released another arrow, this time upwards and it illuminated the area around her. She looked to see where he fell, but she couldn't see through the thick dark smog. She covered her mouth and nose so she could keep breathing through the smog, then she began to look for him.

He couldn't keep this up forever, he had to charge her and hope he can catch her off guard. He ran out of the smog and saw her standing there looking around, still not aware of his presence. He took a deep breath and jumped out as fast as he could. He tackled her to the floor, knocking the wind out of her. She didn't see it coming and he was now on top of her, she was smaller than him after all. He punched her in the face several times, blood was now dripping down her face, but she managed to knee him in the groin.

He fell backwards clutching his privates and letting out a shriek. She took the opportunity and grabbed him by the throat, then she slammed his head against the hard stone floor. He felt dizzy and had a headache, but he managed to knee her in the stomach and make his way back up. 

"You little prick!" She tried to punch him, but he blocked it and gave her another knee to the stomach. He then grabbed her by the head and began to twist. Her neck snapped loudly as she fell lifelessly onto the floor.

She was dead.

He won the first trial, everyone else was dead.

He looked down at her dead body and began to laugh. He laughed and laughed, he laughed so hard he cried. 

To be continued...

**Author's Note:**

> This seems like a good place to leave off at, and I'm sure you guy's have already guessed where this is headin. Now time to think of a way to end it...


End file.
